Many Paths (Emelan Ficlets)
by mistrali
Summary: -
1. Many Paths

The visions fed on her excitement, her desire to travel. "See, Niko? I can do it," she said to him during one of their suppers at the inn on Claymakers' Lane.

"I know you have tried: there are flecks of magic all over you," he remarked, unfolding his napkin to wipe his mouth.

"Does it show in flecks?" she asked, curious. "Coloured ones? Because I've been wanting to read Quicksilver, you know, and see what he says about auras in vision magics."

"Greta, this isn't a game," Niko said slowly. "Insanity isn't unlikely." He fixed her all the while with a grave look which made her feel about twelve. If only he wouldn't jump to conclusions and assume the worst, she thought; but that was Niko all over. As well ask Sythuthan to stop changing the weather.

"You don't have to worry, silly," she said, tweaking his nose. "I'll be all right."

-  
They flicked past in all sorts of little paths. Rainbows of colour, patterns of light. Here was a glimpse of something else, a strip of pure white that made her breath catch - was that snow on the mountains? Yes, it was, and a great white beast with magnificent black spots prowled along a... "I wanted to see that," she protested, as the image faded and twenty new ones swam and flashed in its place. Each shade or pattern threw out a tendril that tugged at Greta's magic and enticed her along another wind. There must have been hundreds, all calling her to slip into them.

There was a light tap on her shoulder. Her colours jittered.

"What?!" she shouted, turning and looking into Niko's face, which swam blue-gold-green in her sight. For some reason, his calm infuriated her even more.

"Can't you see I was trying to scry? Could you curst well leave a person alone for five minutes?" she snapped.

"You thought you'd been at this for five minutes?" he asked, kneeling to grip her shoulders and peer into her eyes.

"Well, I said I'd meet you at illusions class. Anyone would- Niko? What's the matter?"

"It's six o'clock in the morning," he said, looking truly frightened for the first time since she had known him.


	2. Crumbling Courts

p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.229999542236328px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"Written for Harlequin Week at Goldenlake/p  
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.229999542236328px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"strongCrumbling/strong strongCourts/strong/p  
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.229999542236328px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"Rizuka fa Dalach, former Mistress of the Imperial Wardrobe, finds the threads of her life beginning to unravel with stunning rapidity. With Empress Berenene's death, the palace at Dancruan no longer glitters and thrums with heartbreak, vivacity and passion. Soon Rizu finds herself banished from imperial favour by her former mistress's grasping, ambitious ex-lover, Pershan fer Roth, and his powerful, paranoid paramour-mage, Quennaill Shieldsman. Desperate to escape Namorn, she enlists the help of influential people in the Mages' Society who dare to defy the monarch - among them, the wealthy Bancanor family./p  
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.229999542236328px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"While she's in hiding at the Bancanors' house, Rizu meets an equally rich friend and ally of theirs - one Daja Kisubo, a smith from Emelan with the loveliest smile and most alluring hands. When Daja makes an extraordinary offer, one Rizu knows she won't be able to refuse, will love keep fanning the flames of their new romance? Or will it end in embers and ash, as Daja discovers the truth behind Rizu's real relationship with Berenene?/p 


End file.
